employ

im-PLOY/ɪmˈplɔɪ/

7 meanings of employ

1
verbtransitive
To keep someone working for you as a paid worker.
Like a shop that keeps the same workers on its team.
Big farms employ many workers at harvest time.
The hospital employs hundreds of nurses.
Similarhire, engage, retain
Oppositedismiss, fire
Note
2
verbtransitive
To use a person or thing to do a job.
Like picking the right tool from a box to fix something.
Engineers employ simple tools to test the bridge.
The teacher employs games to help kids learn.
Similaruse, apply, utilize
Note
3
verbtransitive
To keep someone busy with something.
Like a hobby that fills up your whole afternoon.
Long projects employ his full attention.
The puzzle employed the children all afternoon.
Similaroccupy, busy
Note
4
noununcountable
The state of having a job working for someone.
Like being on a company's team and getting paid for it.
He spent twenty years in the employ of the railway.
She left the employ of the bank last year.
Similarservice, pay
Note

Less common meanings

5
verbraretransitive
To give someone a new job.
Like a team taking on a brand-new player.
Growing companies employ fresh graduates every year.
The management, who were close personal friends, had just employed a new chef.
2004, Jay Rayner, The ApologistHere, employed means hired, gave a new chef a job.
Similarhire, recruit, engage
Oppositedismiss, fire
Note
6
nounarchaic
A job or the work that someone does.
Like the daily work that fills up your time.
Farming was his only employ for many years.
Still he wrote on. He was too much engrossed in his own charmed employ not to be insensible for a time to all external influences: he might suffer afterwards, but now his mind was his kingdom.
1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “A London Life”Here, employ means his work or job, what he spends his time doing.
Note
7
nounobsolete
The act of using a person or thing for a task.
Like putting a tool to good use for a job.
The employ of so many hands made the work go quickly.
Notwithstanding the employ of general and local bleeding, blisters, &c., the patient died on the fourth day after entrance.
1833, R. J. Bertin, Treatise on the Diseases of the HeartHere, employ means use, so the doctors made use of these treatments.
Note

Practice

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Origins

Meanings 1–3, 5

From an old English word meaning "to apply to a purpose," which came through French from the Latin word implicare, meaning "to fold in" or "entangle."

Meanings 4, 6–7

Borrowed from the French word emploi, meaning "job" or "employment," first used in the late 1600s.